Dr. Nguyen Huu Chi, President of HCMC Liver and Gall Bladder Association and Deputy Manager of Infectious Disease Department at the City Medical University said at the 5th Annual Hepatitis Symposium organized by Roche Vietnam that almost 10-20 percent of the population in the country is infected with Hepatitis B virus.
Dr. Chi added that most of the patients don’t show any symptoms until their liver is seriously damaged. Therefore, treatment and cure in the last stages of the disease proves very costly.
Roche Diagnostics, the world’s leading vitro diagnostics company, reaffirmed its commitment to the management of Hepatitis in Vietnam at the Symposium.
The role of early diagnosis and ongoing monitoring during treatment was a key topic of discussion by more than 500 healthcare professionals and other experts at the Symposium, organized by the Liver and Gall Bladder Association and Roche Diagnostics Vietnam.
In addition to monitoring treatment, HBsAg quantitative tests in combination with HBV DNA testing can distinguish dormant carriers from those showing visible symptoms of the disease, thereby defining more clearly who requires therapy and frequent monitoring and who does not.
Box: According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there are approximately 2 billion people infected with the Hepatitis B virus and 200 million infected with the Hepatitis C virus. On an average, 3,000 people die every day from Hepatitis.
